Ken Russell
Directing
1927-07-03 · Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK
Henry Kenneth Alfred 'Ken' Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was an English film director. He is known for his pioneering work in television and film, and for his controversial style. He has been criticized as being over-obsessed with sexuality and the church. His subject matter is often about famous composers, or based on other works of art which he adapts loosely. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he did creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios. Among his best known works are the Oscar-winning romantic drama Women in Love (1969), the notoriously controversial psychological horror The Devils (1971), the rock musical Tommy (1975), and the science fiction film Altered States (1980). One noted admirer, British film critic Mark Kermode, attempting to sum up the director's achievement, called Russell; "somebody who proved that British cinema didn't have to be about kitchen-sink realism – it could be every bit as flamboyant as Fellini. He now makes very strange experimental films like Lion's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man, and they are as edgy and out there as the work he made in the 1970s."
Filmography
Twiggy
2025 · Movie
The Who: One Band's Explosive Story
2022 · Movie
Kitsune
2016 · Movie
Director of Devils
2012 · Movie
Ken Russell: A Bit of a Devil
2012 · Movie
The Devils Original on-set footage
2012 · Movie
Mr. Nice
2010 · Movie
Boudica Bites Back
2009 · Movie
A Kitten for Hitler
2007 · Movie
10 Best Elgar
2007 · Movie
Watch the Birdie
2007 · Movie
The Real Blue Nuns
2006 · Movie
Trapped Ashes
2006 · Movie
Brothers of the Head
2006 · Movie
Charlotte Brontë Enters the Big Brother House
2006 · Movie
Colour Me Kubrick
2005 · Movie
The Miners' Picnic by Ken Russell
2005 · Movie
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · Series
Revenge of the Elephant Man
2004 · Movie
100 Greatest Sexy Moments
2003 · Movie
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003 · Movie
Hell on Earth: The Desecration & Resurrection of The Devils
2002 · Movie
Elgar: Fantasy on a Composer on a Bicycle
2002 · Movie
The Fall of the Louse of Usher
2002 · Movie
Waking the Dead
2001 · Series
Celebrity Big Brother
2001 · Series
The Real Oliver Reed
2000 · Movie
Lion's Mouth
2000 · Movie
Dogboys
1998 · Movie
In Search of the English Folk Song
1997 · Movie
Mindbender
1996 · Movie
Tales of Erotica
1996 · Movie
Treasure Island
1995 · Movie
Empire of the Censors
1995 · Movie
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue
1995 · Movie
Alice in Russialand
1995 · Movie
The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch
1995 · Movie
Erotic Tales
1994 · Series
Frank Stubbs Promotes
1993 · Series
Lady Chatterley
1993 · Series
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax
1992 · Movie
The Mystery of Dr Martinu
1992 · Movie
Prisoner of Honor
1991 · Movie
Whore
1991 · Movie
Road to Mandalay
1991 · Movie
The Russia House
1990 · Movie
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner
1990 · Movie
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction
1990 · Movie
Plunder
1990 · Series
The Rainbow
1989 · Movie
A British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible
1989 · Movie
Il Mefistofele
1989 · Movie
The Lair of the White Worm
1988 · Movie
Salome's Last Dance
1988 · Movie
Ken Russell's ABC of British Music
1988 · Movie
Your Honour, I Object! Guccione V Russell
1987 · Movie
Aria
1987 · Movie
Gothic
1987 · Movie
A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
1986 · Movie
Faust
1985 · Movie
Crimes of Passion
1984 · Movie
Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait
1984 · Movie
The Planets
1983 · Movie
Altered States
1980 · Movie
The Who: The Kids Are Alright
1979 · Movie
Clouds of Glory
1978 · Series
The South Bank Show
1978 · Series
Valentino
1977 · Movie
Lisztomania
1975 · Movie
Tommy
1975 · Movie
Mahler
1974 · Movie
Savage Messiah
1972 · Movie
The Boy Friend
1971 · Movie
Film '72
1971 · Series
The Devils
1971 · Movie
The Music Lovers
1971 · Movie
Dance of the Seven Veils
1970 · Movie
Women in Love
1969 · Movie
Song of Summer
1968 · Movie
Dante's Inferno
1967 · Movie
Billion Dollar Brain
1967 · Movie
Omnibus
1967 · Series
Don’t Shoot the Composer
1966 · Movie
Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
1966 · Movie
Russell at Work
1966 · Movie
Always on Sunday
1965 · Movie
The Debussy Film
1965 · Movie
Six
1964 · Series
The Diary of a Nobody
1964 · Movie
Bela Bartók
1964 · Movie
French Dressing
1964 · Movie
Elgar
1962 · Movie
Mr Chesher’s Traction Engines
1962 · Movie
The Preservation Man
1962 · Movie
Pop Goes the Easel
1962 · Movie
The Lonely Shore
1962 · Movie
London Moods
1961 · Movie
Old Battersea House
1961 · Movie
Walk With The Damned
1961 · Movie
Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill
1961 · Movie
Prokofiev
1961 · Movie
Antonio Gaudí
1961 · Movie
The Light Fantastic
1960 · Movie
Shelagh Delaney's Salford
1960 · Movie
A House in Bayswater
1960 · Movie
A Bedlington Miners' Picnic
1960 · Movie
Journey Into a Lost World
1960 · Movie
Scottish Painters
1959 · Movie
Portrait of a Goon
1959 · Movie
From Spain to Streatham
1959 · Movie
Variations on a Mechanical Theme
1959 · Movie
Gordon Jacob
1959 · Movie
John Betjeman: A Poet in London
1959 · Movie
Amelia and the Angel
1958 · Movie
Monitor
1958 · Series
Lourdes
1958 · Movie
Peepshow
1956 · Movie
Knights on Bikes
1956 · Movie
PuzzleFace
Movie
Mad Dad
Movie